1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to hunting and trap shooting equipment and, more particularly, is concerned with a gun-aiming device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Game hunting and trap shooting are widely popular activities practiced by thousands of sportsmen in the United States. For optimum results, the sportsman needs equipment which is readily adaptable to a variety of circumstances.
Specifically, for both game hunters and trap shooters, sighting aids are of obvious importance in obtaining maximum shooting efficiency, whatever the particular type of gun selected. Numerous sighting aids have been devised for attachment to a variety of gun types. Some of these include components which are attached on or built directly into the gun barrel itself.
One typical threaded sighting element is seen in FIG. 1. This sighting element, generally designated 10, has a head portion 12 attached to one end of a threadable stem portion 14. The stem portion 14 is mountable in the threaded upwardly opening passage 16 of the gun barrel 18. One drawback of this construction is that after repeated use the threads on the stem and barrel aperture will wear down or become stripped, thereby loosening up the gunsight device and diminishing its effectiveness in sighting a target.
Various non-threaded removable gunsight devices have been proposed to overcome the drawback of the prior art gunsight device of FIG. 1. Representative examples of these non-threaded removable gunsight devices are the ones disclosed in U.S. patents to Adams (U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,536), Ferraro (U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,381) and Pickle (U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,382). While these non-threaded gunsight devices overcome the drawback of the threaded gunsight, they substitute other drawbacks in its place. These drawbacks are overly complex constructions, too many parts with differently shaped and angled surfaces requiring machining to close tolerances and thus costly fabrication, and tedious procedures for installing and removing the sighting element of the gunsight devices. Further, a number of movements, both angular and rotational, are required to position the particular sighting element in place for aiming the gun and then for removal of the sighting elment from its seat. Obviously, such construction and assembly of components are rather complicated and costly.
Additionally, hunters often paint their sighting element, specifically the head portion, a particular color to assist them in certain weather conditions or for specific types of game. Generally, for differing weather or hunting conditions, with respect to the sighting element of FIG. 1 the hunter will paint the head portion a corresponding color rather than removing the sighting element itself and inserting a different prepainted element, because of the limited durability of the threaded passage 16. Also, this permanent type of sighting element provides for only one size of head portion for aiming the gun, precluding such variations in size as may be needed for variations in distance of game hunted.
Consequently, a need exists for a gun-aiming device of simple construction which provides for quick mounting and removal of a particular sighting element from its base mount and for choice in color and size of the most suitable sighting element for particular hunting or trap shooting conditions.